The return of Artur Davis in Alabama politics: A Democrat-turned-Republican could be big influence on Alabama GOP

View full sizeArtur Davis visited AL.com on Tuesday, July 30, 2014 to discuss his possible run for Montgomery mayor.Jim Stinson / jstinson@al.com

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Artur Davis is back in Alabama politics, for now, and should he decide to run to be mayor of the state's capital city, the Republican Party could see a small shift back to the center.

He didn't say that, exactly. And he didn't say party politics was a priority at all. The mayoral race is nonpartisan.

For one, Davis said he would accept the federal government's offer to fund a Medicaid expansion within Alabama.

While that puts Davis on the same page as Parker Griffith, Democratic nominee for governor, it also puts Davis on the same page as Gov. John Kasich, the Republican chief executive of Ohio, as well as a number of other GOP governors from Arizona to Florida.

Bentley said President Obama seized on the compromise, saying Pence had expanded Obamacare.

Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government will pay 100 percent of the cost of expansion for the first three years and then 90 percent after that. It's the 10 percent cost that has some governors concerned, as Medicaid costs, like the federal government's Medicare costs, have been rising.

Still, Davis said most Republicans think the money from the federal government will help the state provide more health care to those with financial hardships.

Davis didn't stop there. He bemoaned the primary methods of both parties, saying candidates often have to take the most conservative positions within GOP primaries to get nominated. Often, that means bashing President Obama.

One GOP campaign that disappointed, Davis said, was the effort by Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel, a Republican who tried to unseat U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. McDaniel still hasn't conceded losing the June 24 runoff.

Davis also expressed distaste for a process in which GOP candidates for office have to shoot a paper copy of Obamacare with a gun.

Of course, Davis, who served in Congress from 2003 to 2011 as a Democrat, has been an Obama critic too. He declined to vote for Obamacare in 2010, irking his Democratic supporters.

Davis mocked Obama for the earlier 2008 Democratic National Convention in 2008, and its "Styrofoam Greek columns and artificial smoke." Davis praised Obama's initial call for inclusion. But Davis noted the dreams faded and Obama had trouble governing.

It was a well-received speech -- well received by the GOP.

As Davis prepares to run in a city with a large black population that is very loyal to the Democratic Party, Davis could easily switch back to the Democrats, but he said he won't. The campaign of Parker Griffith for governor isn't exactly inspiring him to do a full-circle party switch, he joked.

(Griffith was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 2008. He switched to the GOP soon after, but lost a GOP primary in 2010. He then declared he was a Democrat again and won the 2014 nomination for governor last June.)

Davis also said he has known Alabama's black civic leaders all his life, and he can persuade them. And he noted the current mayor of Montgomery, Todd Strange, is a Republican.

Still, Davis admitted the nonpartisan race could be a test of his principles.